


please don't drown baby

by its_yoursong



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, zayn is alone :((
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-27
Updated: 2013-02-27
Packaged: 2017-12-03 20:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/702121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_yoursong/pseuds/its_yoursong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn is sulking and Niall's son wants to drown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	please don't drown baby

Zayn loves his friends, he really does, but when they leave him on the edge of the swimming pool he can't help but question his life choices. Like, maybe if he hadn't known them he could have befriended considerate and nice people. Like this guy on TV and on posters and on radio and everywhere, Liam Payne, the British Justin Bieber or something. Zayn has read (don't ask him where, he won't answer) that he cancelled BRIT Awards in the last minute to stay home with his sick girlfriend. Yeah, Liam Payne would be a very good best friend, Zayn thinks. At least, better than those assholes who all know he can't swim and still are playing waterpolo to the deep end of the pool. 

(The fact that they didn't force him in here and he came of his own will is irrevelant, he reckons.)

So that's how he finds himself sitting on the edge of the pool, feet in the water 'cause it's still hot as hell, and bored as fuck. 

Until something hits him on the back of the head.

He turns around almost immediately, and notes that the something is, in fact a ball, which is already bumping away and rolling right into the water. Turns out the ball is followed by a kid – no more than 3 years old – who probably can't swim either. And he doesn't even have floaters on.

Zayn may be tough, and vain, and a bit selfish, but he's not that much of an asshole and stops the kid just as he's going to step into the water (and drown). The ball goes somewhere else, floating around in the pool but it's probably gonna be brought back by the small waves people are creating so Zayn is not really worried.

« Hey there, kiddo, no need to drown » he says gently and drags the small child to him « Where are your parents ? » 

The kid is a brown-haired boy with pale face and really blue eyes. He's absolutely adorable, Zayn decides. He is looking at Zayn with wide eyes and an even wider smile, ignoring his question. The ball has been forgotten, obviously.

« MATTHEW JAMES HORAN ! I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU DON'T GET BACK THERE RIGHT NOW ... » a masculine voice startles them and they both turn around at the same time. 

An extremely good-looking young man is standing there, shirtless (obviously) and wearing bermuda shorts (with no flowers on it, which is a good thing). He has blond hair and the same blue eyes as the toddler and he's a bit built, Zayn notices. He seems a bit angry, but a bit more worried. He has a sunscreen tube in one hand and a towel thrown over his shoulder and he's definitely hot.

The kid is already running to him and starts pulling on his shorts' leg, pointing to the pool. Zayn smiles and the stranger smiles back.

« Is my son bothering you ? I'm sorry-  
Oh no, not at all » Zayn iterrupts « He almost drowned himself, though. »

Niall laughs, which is surprising, to say the least, especially when his son has almost died. (He looks really young for a father, Zayn thinks, but who is he to judge ?).

« Ahah, yeah, he just – I don't know, I was looking for sunscreen in my bag and when I turned around – he wasn't there anymore.  
Well, he was running after a ball and was going to follow it in the water so I stopped him. »  
Niall smiles brigtly, nods and says « Thanks ! » and then he's crouching down to the level of his son, who hasn't stopped pulling on his shorts.

« Matt, listen, you have to stop doing that, okay ? Daddy was really, really worried. »

The kid – Matthew – nods. His father leans in and kisses him on the top of his nose and then looks in the direction his son is pointing.

(Zayn certainly isn't staring).

Later, when the ball is back in Matthew's hands and Matthew himself in the water, wearing floaters this time and happily wandering in the pool while his father is watching him from the side, they talk a bit and Zayn learns that he man's name is Niall. He learns that Matthew's mother is off on the other side of the planet and that Matthew likes donuts and football and being a menace to the general population a lot.

They talk for what feels like hours and when the swimming pool is about to close and Matthew is rambling about the new friend he made, Zayn realises – his friends are gone. They left him without a drive.

He's angry and a bit sad, at first, but then Niall is asking for his number and smiling at him and, well. He can walk.


End file.
